Causes and Effects of the Dust Bowl and the Migration to California in the 1930's
...ng and planted rows of trees in an attempt to break the cycle of wind. Many farmers were often criticized by outsiders and remained very defensive. The farmers put the new farming techniques to practice only when they were paid (Svobida). The wage per hour they earned in most cases meant the difference between holding on to the land they loved and having to abandon their land (“The New Deal”). As did the family in John Stienbeck’s book “The Grapes of Wrath” where the Joads went from camp to camp for shelter as they traveled from Oklahoma to California. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American History. By 1940, an estimated 2.5 million people had moved out of the Great Plains as an effect of the Dust Storms. Families who owned land would have stayed but were forced out when they lost their land in the bank foreclosures. The people of the plains had nowhere else to go; they had no work, no home, no land, nothing (“Dust Bowl). “There is no life for us unless we leave all that we know as home,” Ma Joad said in Steinbeck’s famous novel (112) California was thought to be a state of hope and dreams. A state that held plenty of job opportunities for the migrating families desperate for anything better than the life they left (Howarth, 56-61). As Pa Joad said when asked if he was happy to leave home “yeah, we had hard times here. ‘Course it’ll be all different out there- plenty work, an’ ever’thing nice an’ green, and little white houses an’ oranges growin’ aroun’” (Steinbeck,()However many families’ hopes and dreams of a better life started to diminish after stories from people who were leaving California started to leak out around the government camps. Rumors were told to families about work not being available, and if there was work the wages were so low no one’s family would be able to survive (Bonnefeild). Family was a bond of unity during this time. As Ma Joad repeatedly said, “This family is not breakin’ up no way”; she made sure that no matter how hard things got, the unity with family would always stay strong (Steinbeck’s#). The family hardships of the “Okies” and “Arkies” were all they had. The people needed have hope or all would be lost (Worster). As the migrants poured into California, they were called “Okies” or “Arkies” due to the fact that so many came from Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Los Angeles police chief assigned 125 policemen to act as bouncers of the state (Mass). Arriving in California the migrants now wondered if this life was going to be any different than the one they had left. Groups of vigilantes beat up migrants, accusing th...